Northwest Bancshares Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 132,993 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 22,868 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.2% of Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,340,764,000 after buying an additional 1,853,598 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,261,185,000 after buying an additional 1,530,468 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,254,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $840,538,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 26.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,357 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $3,345,228.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. The trade was a 0.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 321,628 shares of company stock valued at $18,449,561 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

CSCO stock opened at $57.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $59.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $54.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.95. The stock has a market cap of $227.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.